Third-rail contact-shoe.



-N6. 869,465. PATENTED 00129, 1907.

' s B STEWART, JB

THIRD RAIL CONTACT SHOE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5, 1902.

Witnesses Jnvenfior. Samuel' BStewarnJn e64, Musuma'rmv, n. c.

- UNITED STATES PATENT oEEmE.

SAMUEL B. STEWART, .IR., OF SOI-IENEOTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GENERALELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

THIRD-RAIL CONTACT-SHOE.

Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Oct.'29, 1907'.

Application filed July 5, 1902. Serial No. 114.342.

To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL B. STEivART, J12, a citi- Zen of the UnitedStates, residing at Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady, State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inThird-Rail Contact-Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in electric railways of the typeemploying a third-rail conductor arranged parallel to the track railsand a collector or contact-shoe carried by the car which is adapted tocontact with the upper surface of said third-rail.

The invention relates more particularly to improvements in theconstruction of the contact-shoe carried by the car. i

-The object of my invention is to provide an eflicient collector orcontact-shoe which is adapted to operate in connection with a protectedthird-rail having a small clearance between the top of the rail and theprotecting strip or guard for the same, Which will not be affected byslight irregularities of the rail or small obstructions thereon, andwhich will be capable of use in a number of systems in which the heightof the third-rail above the road-bed varies greatly.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is side elevation of thecollector-shoe carried by the car, showing its position relative to thethird-rail and guard therefor, the latter being shown in section; Figs.2 and 3 are rcspectively front elevation and plan view of the same;

Fig. 4- is a perspective view of the collector-shoe and supporting-frametherefor detached from the car.

Referring now to the drawings, A represents a thin, flat collector orcontact shoe having a small moment of inertia, pivoted in the supportingframe B, which in turn is adj ustably mounted on a hanger O rigidlyattached to the beam 9 mounted on the car truck. The third-railconductor is'represented by R, and is supported in a series ofinsulating supporting blocks S, which are fastened to the cross-ties inany suitable manner, as, for instance, by means of the angle irons 7)shown in Fig. 1. A suitable guard which is here shown as formed of astrip E supported from the cross-ties T by a series of bracket-arms Dacts as a protector for the third-rail. The specific form of third-railsupporting insulator and third-rail guard are merely shown herein tomore clearly illustrate the operation of my improved collector-shoe butform no part of the present invention, and are not claimed herein sincethey form the subject-matter of two applications filed contemporaneouslyherewith, Potter, Serial No. 114,328, and Stewart, Serial No. 114,343.

Returning now to the specific construction of the collector shoe andsupporting frame therefor, the supporting frame B has formed thereonprojecting lugs 12, which carry the shaft (1. The shaft a is held inplace by the pin 1'. The collector-shoe A has formed integral therewitha sleeve a which is pivotally and slidably mounted on the shaft a,thereby allowing a movement of said shoe relative to the supportingframe in a direction perpendicular to and also in a direction parallelto the third-rail, or, in other words, in a horizontal plane. Projectingupwardly from the sleeve 11 is a lug a between which and the supportingframe B is a spring d which acts normally to force the shoe A downwardso as to maintain it in contact with the third-rail. The collector-shoeis so constructed that it has a small moment of inerita and is made asthin as possible so that it will operate efficiently in a narrow slot ina third-rail housing or on a third-rail having a simple guard such as isshown in the figures of the drawing, said guard having a very smallclearance between itself and the top of the third-rail.

The spring (1 is made stiff enough to maintain the collector-shoe ingood contact with the third-rail, and the shoe itself has such a smallmoment of inertia that it will ride over slight irregularities in therail without jumping, where a gravity-pressed shoe or any shoe having aconsiderable moment of inertia would leave the rail. Buffer springs 01are also provided between the ends of the sleeve a and the lugs b, thesesprings serving to cushion the shoe against any blow delivered in alongitudinal direction. The downward movement of the collector shoe islimited by the lower edge of the supporting frame B against which therearwardly projecting lug (1 contacts when the shoe is not engaging thethird-rail.

I have heretofore constructed and have shown in my application SerialNo. 57,873, filed April 29, 1901, a thin, flat, horizontally-projectingcollector-shoe yieldably supported and adapted for use where there isbut a small clearance between the surface of the third-rail and theprotecting guard, and I make no claim to such a construction broadly inthis application. My present invention consists in so mounting such ashoe that it will not jump or leave the rail under any ordinaryconditions to be met with in practice. By modifying the constructionshown in my prior application above referred to so that the shoe will bepositively held against the rail with a considerable pressure, I havesucceeded in obtaining a shoe that will operate successfully undernormal conditions where the irregularities in the surface of thethird-rail are slight, but in case excessive irregularities areencountered the vertical component of the force acting on the shoe atthe moment of impact will still be sufficient to cause the shoe to jump.In order to render the construction still more effective I have providedthe springs d between the ends of the sleeve and the lugs which supportthe shaft on which the shoe is mounted. These springs permit a slightlongitudinal movement of the shoe and thus reduce the force of the blowand consequently the force tending to cause the shoe to leave the rail.Such a yielding mounting also reduces the effect of the succession ofhammer blows to which the shoe may be continuously subjected and whichmight result disastrously to the shoe if it were rigidly mounted.

It often becomes necessary to adjust the collectorshoe verticallyrelative to the car so as to aceommodate it for use with the third-railsof different systems which vary considerably in their height above theroad-bed or cross-ties and another feature of my invention consists inproviding means for such adjustment. A hanger G, which is preferablysupported irom the journal-boxes, carries clamping bolts 1 which operatein slots t in the supporting i'rame B. The engaging surfaces of thehanger G and the supporting frame 13 are roughened so as to more firmlyhold the parts in position after they have been adjusted. To form a moreperiect electrical circuit from the collector-shoe to the hanger aflexible conductor h is connected be tween the lugs IL and d carried bythe hanger and shoe respectively. A. protecting shelf or guard F isfastened to the car truck a short distance above the collector-shoe andsufficiently above the guard for the third-rail to prevent Contacttherewith. The function of this guard is to prevent injury to persons oranimals from contact with the collector-shoe, and also to protect theshoe itself from injury.

Although I have shown and described a specific means for supporting thecollector-shoe, I do not intend to limit myself thereto, since manymodifications may suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art whichwill not depart from the spirit and scope 01' my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is,

1. In an electric railway, a third-rail conductor, a col lector shoehaving a broad fiat contact face, a frame mounted upon a car, and meansfor yieldingly supporting said shoe upon said frame on an axis parallelto said rail for limited rotary and axial movements.

2. A collector shoe having a small movement of inertia,

a rigidly-supported frame carrying a shaft on which the shoe ispivotally mounted so as to allow a vertical move merit, a spring forpositively forcing said shoe into coin tact with the upper face oi therail, and buffer springs permitting a slight movement of said shoe in adirection parallel with said rail.

3. A collector shoe having a small movement of inertia, a rigidlysupported frame in which the shoe is pivotally mounted so as to allow avertical movement of the shoe, a spring for maintaining said shoe incontact with the third rail, and buffer springs permitting a. slightmovement of said shoe in a plane parallel to said rail.

4-. 111 a third rail electric railway, a. collector shoe yieldingly heldagainst movement vertically and longitudinally and mounted on an axisparallel with the third rail with which the shoe is adapted to contact,a supporting frame for said shoe, a hanger carried by the car, means foradjusting said supporting frame on said hanger, and a flexibleelectrical conductor for connecting said shoe with said hanger.

Ina third rail electric railway, a thin ilat horizontally projectingcollector shoe, a supporting frame in which said shoe is pivotallymounted, the pivot passing through the body of the shoe so as to give ita small movement of inertia, a spring for positively forcing said shoedownward into contact with the upper surface oi the third rail, andmeans for permitting a slight movement oi the shoe in a plane parallelwith the rail.

ii. In an electric railway, a collector shoe, and means [or supportingsaid shoe on an axis parallel to the third rail and yieldingly holdingit against rotary and axial movements.

7. In an electric railway, a collector shoe supported on an axisparallel to the third rail, and springs for yieldingly holding said shoeagainst: rotary and axial movements.

8. In an electric railway, a collector shoe, a frame mounted upon a carfor supporting aid shoe on an axis parallel to the third rail, and meansfor yieldingly sup porting said shoe upon said axis for limited rotaryand axial movements.

9. In an electric railway. a collector shoe. :1v i'ramc mounted upon acar for supporting said shoe on an axis parallel with the third rail,and springs vieldingly supporting said shoe for limited rotary and axialmovements.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this first day of July,1002.

SAMUEL B. STEWART, .ln.

Witnesses BENJAMIN B. HULL, HELEN ORFORD.

